Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, Denmark.
Psychopathology. 2010;43(3):159-69. doi: 10.1159/000288638. Epub 2010 Feb 27.
Studies on gender differences in depression have usually included a mixture of patients with first-episode, chronic and recurrent depression. Consequently, the results might be confounded by the history of depression among participants. The present study evaluated gender differences in sociodemographic, clinical and treatment variables among patients suffering exclusively from single-episode depression.
Systematic recruitment of 301 participants via the Danish Psychiatric Central Research Register and assessment by means of questionnaires and interviews regarding psychiatric diagnoses, personality traits and disorders, stressful life events, family history, and treatment response.
Female patients showed a higher level of neuroticism and more residual anxiety symptoms after treatment of the depression. There were no gender differences in severity of depression, psychiatric co-morbidity (including personality disorders), stressful life events prior to onset, family loading of psychiatric disorders, or treatment outcome.
The results provide evidence for a higher level of anxiety and neuroticism among females with a recent onset of depression, whereas other clinical characteristics of first-episode depression were equivalent between male and female patients. Only patients with contact to a psychiatric hospital were included; thus, the results cannot be generalized to patients in primary care.
以往关于抑郁症性别差异的研究通常包含首发、慢性和复发性抑郁症患者的混合。因此，参与者的抑郁史可能会使结果产生混淆。本研究评估了仅患有单发性抑郁症的患者在社会人口统计学、临床和治疗变量方面的性别差异。
通过丹麦精神病中央研究登记处进行系统招募 301 名参与者，并通过问卷和访谈评估精神病诊断、人格特质和障碍、压力性生活事件、家族史和治疗反应。
女性患者在抑郁症治疗后表现出更高的神经质水平和更多的残留焦虑症状。在抑郁症严重程度、精神共病（包括人格障碍）、发病前的压力性生活事件、精神疾病家族遗传负荷或治疗结果方面，男女患者之间没有性别差异。
结果提供了证据表明，近期发作的女性抑郁症患者的焦虑和神经质水平更高，而首发抑郁症的其他临床特征在男女患者之间相当。仅纳入了与精神病院有联系的患者；因此，结果不能推广到初级保健中的患者。
